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The world we live

The Earth is the only planet that has a conducive atmosphere to support
plant and animal lives. It is a marvellous creation of nature. The Earth rotates
around its own axis while revolving around the sun in an elliptical orbit. It takes
about 23 hours and 56 minutes for one complete rotation (Fig. 1.2) and
365 days and 6 hours to revolve round the sun (Fig. 1.1).

Fig. 1.1 : Revolution of the Earth round the sun

This chapter enables you to study the shape of the Earth, its latitudes
and longitudes and its significance as well as continents and oceans.
Shape of the Earth
The teacher who entered the class room with a
globe, started a discussion with the students about
the shape of the Earth.

Teacher

Fig.1.2: Rotation of the Earth

You have some ideas about the Earth we live in. Let us learn
about the shape of the Earth today.
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The teacher divided the class into groups and distributed some information
sheets among the groups and asked them to read those by exchanging.
Information given in those sheets are as follows:

People of early ages believed that

the Earth was flat. But, now it has been
well proved that the Earth is round (Fig 1.3).
If we observe the horizon of the
sea from a ship, aeroplane or from a very
high place, the horizon is curved. This
curvature proves that the Earth is round
in shape.
Fig.1.3: Satellite Picture of the Earth

The photographs, taken by aeronauts show the planet Earth is round

in shape (Fig. 1.3).
Because of the Earths roundness,
we can travel round the Earth by sea,
land and air. If we go or fly from Colombo
through Tokyo, Los Angeles, NewYork,
London we can reach Colombo again
circling round the world. This proves
the world is round in shape (Fig. 1.4).
If the Earth is flat, every one in the
world should see the rising sun at the same
Fig.1.4: Flight round the Earth
time. But the sun rises early to the East and approaches gradually to the
West as the Earth is round in shape (Fig.1.5). This explains the time
differencesbetween Eastern and Western locations.
Pictures of lunar eclipses provide another example. The shadow of the
Earth falls on the moon in a lunar eclipse. This shadow is curved in shape. That
is a typical example showing the shape of the Earth (Fig. 1.6).
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Sun

The Earth

Fig.1.5 : The Sun rises early to the East

The Earth

The Sun

The Moon

Fig.1.6: Lunar Eclipse

Teacher

Have you already read the information sheets? Tell me what is

the shape of the Earth.
Saranga
Madam, all these information sheets have mentioned that the Earth
is round. Is it actually true that the Earth is round like a ball?
Teacher

Good question. Now all the evidences in these sheets indicate the
shape of the Earth is round in general terms. But actually it is not
a mathematical globe. I will explain why.
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12714 km

The diameter of the equator running round the Earth is not similar to the
North and South pole diameter of the Earth. The latter is shorter than the
equatorial diameter. The diameter of the equator has been measured as 12,757
km while the distance from North pole to South pole is calculated as 12,714
km. Thus, the axis of the Earth from North pole to South pole is 43 km shorter
than the diameter of the equator. This proves that the Earth is not a
mathematical globe.
Malhematical globe
Earth

Mathematical globe is shown by

dotted lines and the shape of the
Earth in a dark line (Fig. 1.7).

12757 km

Fig.1.7 : Equatorial and polar diameters

Latitudes and Longitudes

Teacher

Look at the globe carefully.

You may be able to see
another important feature
on the globe. You may have
learned about latitudes and
longitudes in Grade 6.

Fig. 1.8 : Globe of the Earth

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Teacher

North Pole

Kasun! tell us what you know

about latitudes.
Kasun

The imaginary lines drawn from

West to East parallely circling
round the globe are called
latitudes. The latitude in the
middle which is indicated by 0o is
South Pole
named as equator. The Equator
Fig 1.9 Major Latitudes
divides the Earth into two equal
parts. The lines North of the Teacher
equator are North latitudes while
Very good ... son. I will explain
the lines to its South are South
some more details about
latitudes. Look at the figures. 1.9
latitudes other than what is said
and 1.10.
by Kasun.
o
23 North latitude is
named as the Tropic of Cancer. Latitudes
23 o South latitude is
named as the Tropic of
Capricorn.
66 o North latitude is
called Arctic Circle and 66o
South latitude is called
Antarctic Circle. As we go
towards North or South from
the equator the latitudes
become shorter until the 900 N
and 900 S are reduced to point
locations.
Fig. 1.10 :Latitudes
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Longitudes
As you have observed, there are imaginary lines drawn vertically
from North pole to South pole on the globe. They are called longitudes.
Longitudes are also imaginary lines that are numbered in degreies. There are
longitude lines of 3600 around the Globe. The 00 longitude lies over Greenwich near
London in England. From 00 (Greenwich) longitude, which is considered as
the Prime Meridian, other longitudes are numbered westwards and eastwards
upto 1800. This line is common to both West and East. The International
Date Line follows this longitude except where the countries are divided by
it. Times of different locations could be calculated on the basis of these
longitudes.
East

West

Fig. 1.11 ;Longitudes of the Globe

Fig.1.12 : Latitudes and Longitudes

Activities
1. Take a rubber or plastic ball having a smooth surface about 15cm in diameter
and draw the important latitudes in red.
2. Take a piece of rigifoam or any other material and paste a map of the world
on it.
3. Draw the Equator, two Tropics, Arctic and Antarctic Circles, North and
South 900 latitudes. Note all these lines are equal to the equator in length.
4. Fix pins on 900N and 900S latitudes according to 200 intervals and join
each longitude with coloured strings. By looking at the strings
now you can understand how longitudes run from North to South.
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Student survey
Find the approximate location giving longitudes and latitudes of the
following continents / countries with the help of a world atlas: Sri Lanka,
Australia, South America and Great Britain.
Now you know the shape of the Earth. You have already studied that the
latitudes and longitudes are useful to find the location of a place. Let us
learn about the continents and oceans where the countries are located.
Continents and Oceans
One of the seven main areas of land on the Earth is called a continent.
These seven continents are different from one another when we consider the
futures like relief, size and shape. There are five huge oceans in the word.
Arctic Ocean

Europe
North America
Asia
Atlantic
Ocean
Pacific
Ocean

Pacific
Ocean

Africa
Indian
Ocean

South America

Australia

Antarctic Ocean
Antarctica
Map 1.1 : Map of the world showing continents and Oceans.

Teacher who came to the class next day showed a map of the world
where continents and oceans are marked and questioned the students about
continents and oceans of the world.
Teacher
Lasith, tell me the names of the continents of the world.
Teacher

Lasith
The continents are Asia, Africa,
North America, South America,
Europe, Australia and Antarctica.

Very good Lasith, I have told all of

you to find information about
continents. Who is going to tell
about the continent of Asia?

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The Continent Of Asia

Amara
Teacher, I can give some information about Asia.
Asia is the largest continent in the world. It includes a large number of
countries such as China, India, Japan and Sri Lanka. A large number of long
rivers too can be seen in this continent. The huge Himalaya range is also
located in Asia (Map 1.2).
Teacher
Good Amara. Shall we learn some more details using this map?
Mountain ranges, such as Himalaya, Hindu Kush, Althai, Western
Ghats are located in the continent of Asia and shaded in brown. The
highest peak (Mount Everest 8848 m high) is also located in the
Himalayan mountain range. The rivers are shown in blue. Hwang-Ho
and Yangtze Kiang in China, Ganges and Indus in India, lrrawaddy in
Myanmar are some of them. You may have heard that half of the world
population live in this continent.
N

Map 1.2 : The continent of Asia (Source: Sarasavi School Atlas, 2004)

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Activity
Trace an outline map of Asia. Mark and name five countries (India,
China, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam), five major mountain
ranges.(Himalaya, Hindu Kush, Tian shan, Great Khingan, Althai,
Sulaiman and Western Ghats), five major rivers (Ganges, Hwang
Ho, Indus, Ob and Yenesi) and two plateaus (Tibet and Pamir).
The Continent Of Africa
Mihiri, who was very eagerly waiting to say what she has found about
the continent of Africa, requested an opportunity for that.
Mihiri
My brother told me that, Africa is the second largest continent in the world.
River Nile, the longest river in the world, is in Africa. Many lakes like Victoria,
Tanganyika are also in Africa. Tropical rain forest of Congo and large Sahara
desert are found in the continent of Africa.
N

Teacher

Good Mihiri. Shall

we find some more
details from the map
(Map 1.3). Sahara
desert spreads on a
large area in northern
Africa. Kalahari
desert is in the South.
River Nile, the
longest river in the
world feeds a large
area of the continent.
The mountains like
Atlas and Drakensberg
are also in Africa.

Map.l. 3 : Continent Of Africa. (Source: Sarasavi School Atlas, 2004)

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Activities
1. Name latitudes and longitudes in the continent of Africa.
2. Trace the outline map of Africa (Map 1.4) Mark and nameTropic of
Cancer,Tropic of Capricorn and Greenwich Meridian Longitude.
3. Name the rivers and colour those in blue.
4. Shade in blue, the two lakes in the map you have traced.
N

Map. 1.4 Outline map of Africa

Fig.1:13 : Animal life in the continent of Africa

Student survey
1.Recognise the animals living in Africa according to the Fig 1:13 shown
above and name them.
2.Referring to the example above, prepare a model to show the animals
living in Sri Lanka.
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The Continent of North America

Sahan

Teacher, I will tell you about North America. It is the third largest continent
in the world. Canada, United States of America, Alaska and Mexico are the
countries which make up this continent. Rocky mountain range near the
western coast is a significant feature in North America. Appalachian
mountains are in the East. Rivers like Mississippi, St.Lawrence and Colorado
are the major rivers in North America. Five major inland lakes connected
together are found in this continent. My sister told me that those are called
Five Great Lakes.
N

Map.l.5 : The Continent of North America. (Source: Sarasavi School Atlas, 2004)

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Teacher

Very Good. Now take your atlas and turn to the page showing NorthAmerica.
Then find the location of the following cities: New York, Los Angeles,
Boston, and Seattle. Next find the Appalachians and Rocky Mountain ranges.
After that, find Mississippi and St- Lawrence rivers and the five great lakes,
Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario.
Activity
Trace an outline map of North America and mark and name the mountain
ranges, rivers, lakes and towns you have identified.

Student survey
Show the longitudinal and latitudinal extension of North America.
The Continent of South America
The teacher came to the class with a map of South America.
Teacher
Look at this map dear children. The continent of South America is also as
large as the continent of North America. What is shaded in brown near the
western coast is the Andes mountain range. River Amazon, the second
longest river, in the world stretches over a vast area and covers a large
extent of dense forest named Amazon forest. Major deserts in South
America are Atacama and Patagonia.
Activities
1. Trace an outline map of South America and name the countries marked
as A, B, C, D and E in the map 1.7. Use an atlas for this exercise.
3. Shade those countries in different colours.
4. Draw the river Amazon in blue.
5. Draw the Andes mountain range in brown.

Student survey
Search the similar and different features of two Americas and prepare
a folder. Pay your attention to the longitudes , latitudes, location of
mountain ranges, and deserts in the two continents.
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Map.l.6 : The Continent of South America. (Source: Sarasavi School Atlas, 2004)

Map.l.7 : Outline map of America

The Continent of Europe

Dear childern, find information on the continent of Europe as you did for
other continents. Trace an outline map of Europe with the help of an atlas. Do the
following exercise.
Place dots in red for
Shade in blue the
Mediterranean sea
Shade in brown the
mountain ranges of Pyrenees,
Alps and Carpathians.
Draw in blue the
rivers Rhine, Danube
and Thames.

cities of Paris, London,

Rome and Athens.
Shade Iceland in
green
The continent of
Europe

Mark and name

Germany, France, Italy,
Norway and Portugal.
Fig 1.14

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Draw the longitude

Greenwich.

Mark and name

Arctic circle.

Map.l.8 : The Continent Of Europe. (Source: Sarasavi School Atlas, 2004)

The Continent of Australia

Following day the teacher came to the class and exhibited a map of the
Australian continent.
Kasun
Madam, I have collected information on Australia. May I present those ?
Teacher
Right, Kasun present the information loudly for the others to listen.

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Kasun
The continent of Australia is smaller than other continents. The Tropic of
Capricorn passes through the middle of it. The major river is Murray-Darling.
The Great Dividing range is located close to the Eastern coast of Australia.
Deserts like Great Sandy Desert, Gibson, Great victoria are in the Western
part of Australia.
Teacher
Good Kasun. Now get an atlas and find what are mentioned by Kasun.
N

400S

120 0 E

1400E

Map.l.9 : The Continent of Australia. (Source: Sarasavi School Atlas, 2004)

Map.l.10 : Outline map of Australia

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Activities
I. Trace the outline map of Australia (Map 1.10) and draw the major
longitudes and latitudes going through it.
2. Draw the river Murray-Darling in blue, Great Barrier Reef in dark
orange and shade the Great Dividing Range in brown.
3. Mark and name five towns near the coast.

Student survey
Collect pictures and stamps of Australia and prepare a poster.
The Continent of Antarctica
The continent of Antarctica is around the South pole and it is very cold.
Most of the land is permanently covered with ice and devoid of human settlements.
Look at the location of Antarctica from map 1.11. Antarctica has no trees, flowering
plants or grasses, vegetation is limited to lichens, mosses, and algae.

Map.l.11 : The Continent of Antarctica. (Source: Sarasavi School Atlas, 2004)

Student survey
Collect information about the continent of Antarctica.
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The teacher came to the class to discuss about oceans of the world
on the following day with a map and explained about their locations, extents
and special features.
Oceans
The oceans are masses of water occupying a vast area of the surface of
the Earth. But that is excluding all lakes and inland seas. There are five major
oceans. They are Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Antarctic oceans (Map 1.1).
Pacific Ocean
Pacific ocean is the largest
ocean in the world. It is located
between the continents of Asia
and America. There are ocean
deeps in the Pacific ocean,
Mariana trench is 11,035m
meters deep. It is the deepest place
in the Earth. There are many
islands like Japan, Philippines
and there are many seas like
Japanese (East Sea), Chinese and
Okhotsk in this ocean.

Pacipic Ocean

Map 1.12: Pacipic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic ocean is the second
largest ocean in the world. Its
location is in between two
Americas and Europe and Africa.
There are islands like West
Indies, Cuba and Azores in this
ocean. It has some seas like
Mediterranean, Caribbean, Baltic
and North sea.

Atlantic Ocean

Map 1.13: Atlantic Ocean

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Indian Ocean
Indian ocean is the third largest
ocean in the Earth. It is surrounded
by the landmasses such as South Asia,
Africa and Australia . There are several
big and small islands like Sri Lanka,
Malagasi, Maldives, Sumatra, Java and
Seashells situated in the Indian ocean. Bay
of Bengal and Arabian sea too are situated
in this ocean.

Indian Ocean

Map 1.14 : Indian Ocean

Antarctic (Southern) Ocean

This is sometimes named as
Southern ocean. It is around the
Antarctic continent covered with ice
all round the year. Antarctic or
Southern ocean is comprised of
Southern parts of the Atlantic, Indian
and Pacific oceans. As the waters of
these oceans are mixed in the Antarctic
ocean, it is rich in marine life.

Antarctic Ocean

Map 1.15: Antarctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean
Arctic ocean is located around the
North Pole bordering the continents
of Asia and North America. Most of
the surface area of this ocean is
covered with ice sheets hundreds of
meters thick. The largest island of
the world, Greenland is also situated
in this ocean.

Arctic Ocean

Map 1.16 : Arctic Ocean

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Areas of Continents and Oceans (Million Square kilometers)

Continent Area (km2)

Asia
44
Europe
9.9
Africa
30
N.America
24
S.America
17
Australia
7
Antarctica
13

Area (km2)
76
66
155
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20

Oceans
Atlantic
Indian
Pacific
Arctic
Antarctic

Source: http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopageloceans/continents.htm.

Activities
1. Mark and name the oceans in an outline map of the world in blue.
2. Mark and name the major seas and islands located in these oceans and
three rivers which flow into each ocean.
3. Rank the continents and oceans according to their size. Note down
the longitudes and latitudes of the continents you have learned in this
lesson.
4. What is the major town that lies on the central meridian.
5. Give the approximate longitudinal and latitudinal locations of the
following:
Colombo, Bangkok, Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, London,Oslo
and Geneva.
6. Find and note the continents towns, rivers, mountains, plateaus and
deserts you can find in the grid below.
G

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A Summary of what you have learnt

The Earth is round in shape.

Many evidences can be forwarded to prove it.

The Earth is not a mathematical globe.

The latitudes and longitudes drawn on the globe are imaginery

lines.

The location of countries can be shown by longitudes and latitudes.

There are seven continents and five major oceans in the world. All
these have different features.

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